Railway-telephone.



D. D. BIGGERS. RAILWAY TELEPHONE. APPLICATION FILED 11111127, 1911.

Patented Sept. 17, 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

D. D. BIGGERS. RAILWAY TELEPHONE. APPLIOATION FILED MAY 27, 1911,

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2 SHEBTSSHEBT 2.

Patented Sept. 17, 1912.

RAILWAY-TELEPHONE.

, To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, DENNIS D. BIGGERS, acitizen of the United States, residing at May, in the county of Harperand State of Oklahoma, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Railway-Telephones, of which the following is a specification,reference being bad to the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to new and useful improvements in telephone systemsand more particularly to arailway telephone, and my object is to providemeans in connection with a moving train whereby the same may havecommunication" with another train or station.

A further object resides in providing a device adapted for connectionwith a locomotive tender, whereby the operator of the locomotive may usethe system for signaling purposes.

v in providing an electrical conductor secured in the line of trackrails, and a still further object is to provide a current collectorpivotally carried on a movable object and adapted for engagement withsaid current, conductor.

Another object of the invention resides in providing an improved meansfor securing said current conductor to the rails, and a further objectis to provide means for holding the current collector normally out ofcontact with the current conductor and means to position said collectorin engagement with said conductor when desired.

A still further object of the invention resides in conducting thecurrent to the ground by means of water.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a device which issimple in construction, easily applied and operated, and one which isextremely effective in operation.

With these and other objects in view, my

' invention consists in the novel features of construction, combinationand arrangement of parts as will be hereinafter referred to and moreparticularly pointed out in the specification and claims.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this application, Figurel is a side elevation showing my invention applied to use. Fig. 2 is atransverse section through the rail showing the means for securing theconductor thereto. Fig. 3 is a front eleva- Specification of LettersEatent. Application filed May 27, 1911. Serial No. 629,755.

Patented Sept. 17, 191%.

tion of the arm carrying the current collector. Fig. 4 is a sideelevation of the current collector removed, and, Fig. 5 is a detailperspective of the insulated sleeve removed from the pivoted arm.

In carrying out my invention, I shall refer to the drawings in whichsimilar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughoutthe several views and in which 1 indicates a locomotive cab and 2 thetender for the locomotive, said locomotive and tender being run ontheusual or any preferred form of rail 3: Extending longitudinally thefull length of the rail, or any desired distance, is a current conductor4 which may comprise a rod or flat wire, which is held in position andsecured to the rail by means of an improved clamping device. Thisclamping device comprises the bifurcated member5, the arms of which areadapted to be engaged with the upper and lower faces of the base flange6 of said rail, and one of said arms is provided with a locking bolt 7which is adapted to be turned into engagement with said base flange,whereby said member may be se- .curely held 'to the rail. The member 5is provided with a substantially vertical arm 8 and the upper portion isbent out of alinement with the general trend thereof to form a Jaw orthe like 9, and pivotally engaged with said arm 8 is an additional crossarm 10 designed similarly to the arm 8 and is also provided with a jaw11 at the upper end thereof.

The arms 8 and 10 areprovided" with openings which, when said arm 10 ispositioned so that the jaws 9 and 11 are substantially' closed, arealining, and adapted to extend through the alining openings, is a bolt12, the outer end of which is threaded to receive a nut 13, so that whensaid nut is properly positioned on the bolt 12, the jaws 9 and 11 of thearms will be closed to securely lock the current conductor therebetween.In this manner, said conductor may be carried throughout the length ofthe rails or for any distance desired, and in order to prevent thegrounding of the circuit, an insulation 14- of rubber or any desiredmaterial is provided on the effective faces of the jaws 9 and ll. toengage the conductor Secured. to the bottom of the tender 2 in anydesired manner is a metallic frame 15, to which is pivotally' engagedthe upper end of a lever or arm 16, and to the lower end of said leveror arm 16 is secured an insulated sleeve 17. This sleeve has a portionof one wall thereof cut away, and the lower portion, of said sleeve isformed solid, as

'shownat 18, through which solid portion extends an opening 19, and acurrent collector 20 has anupwardly extending stem 21; formed on theupper portion thereof which extends through the opening 19 in the solidportion 18 of said sleeve. The stem 21 is provided on its free end withan eye 22 which is engaged by one end of a wire 23, which wire extendsupwardly along the side of .saidlever 16 and connects with the usual orany preferred form of phone, 136x24 mounted, as I have shown in thedrawin s, in the cab .1 of the locomotive, but it'will, e understoodthat said box maybe mounted in any desired place on the train;

The wire-23 has its exposed portion covered ,withthe usual form ofinsulation, and as said Wire is drawn somewhat taut, the currentcollector will be held in position adjacent the solid portion 18 on thesleeve 17.

'25 I engaging face somewhat convexed, and the This current conductor 20has its effective or es thereof-are provided with the lugs 25 to preventthe collector from jumping the conductor 4 in case of any lateralvmov'ement and secured'to the side walls of the sleeve 17 are theinsulated guards or finders 26 which depend to opposite sides of theconductor 4 p and prevent any appreciable lateral movement of the lever.The frame 15 has also 2'1 the opposite end of said spring beingenengaged therewith one end ofa coil spring gaged with said lever 16, sothat said-lever is held normally in upward position and out ofengagement with the current conductor 4, but I have provided means formanually disposing said lever in effective position whendesired. To thisextent, an additional should, for any reason whatsoever, there be coilspring 28 is provided and has one end thereof engaged with the bottom ofthe tender 2 and the opposite end connected with I cable 29, said cablebeing extended through any obstacle in the path of said lever, the samemay yield and ride thereover, in view of the spring 28. The end of thecable 29, extended to a convenient point in the cab of the locomotive,may be engaged with my desired form of catch mechanism, so that saidmember,

the operator may force the current collector into engagement with theconductor with more or less force, as desired, and retain the same insuch position.

As before stated, the wire 23 extends up-- wardly from the lever 16 tothe phone box 24, and also extending from said phone box is a groundwire 33 which is guided inany' desired manner to the rear portion of the:tender 2, where it is extended within a fun- ;nel member 34 carried onsaid rear portion of the 'tender and insulated therefrom.

This funnel member is secured to the bot- ;.tom of said tender and'leads'from' a water 5 tank 35 therein, said funnel member beingprovided with a hinged cap or valve 36 which is normally closed andprevents the 'exit of the water from the tank 35 through and in order toprovide for the opening of said valve or cap 36, "a cable or the like 37is extended therefrom and guided in any desired manner to aconvenientpoint in the cab of the locomotive, so that the operator atany time may draw upon thesame and open the valve 36 to allow the waterfrom the tank to flow through said funnel member. The wire 33 which, asstated before, is extended within the funnel member 34,.does not extendcompletely therethrough and in engagement with the ground, so that whenit is desired to conduct the current to the ground,'the water is allowedto pass through said fun- Inel member which will carry the currenttherewith and accomplish the result.

Although I have described the member 20 as a current collector which iscarried by gtheportion 18 of the sleeve and adapted to collect thecurrent from the conductor. 4, it must be here stated that a pad or thelike 37 formed of such material as sponge is carried by the front faceof said portion 18 and bent therebelow to be received-between the lugs25 of said member 20; This pad 37 is adapted to be moistened with water,

whereby the current from the conductor may be more readily passed to thecollector 20 without being broken, and in order to provide means for themoistening of said pad, a barrel or tank 38 of any desired size,

may be provided and carried by the tender '2, said tank 38 having atubular member 39 leading' therefrom to a point immediately adjacent thepoint where said pad -is' secured to the member 18. This tubular member39 extends for a portion of its'length along the side of the arm 16,as'does the wire 23, and

at the point wherein the member 39 leads to the tank 38, a valve or thelike 40 is provided which is operated by means of a connection 41 whichextends to the cab, whereby when the operator desires to allow the waterfrom the tank to flow through said tubular member 39 to the pad 37', thesame may be accomplished by merely drawingupon the connection 41. Thus,by means of this valve connection, the. water from the tank will not bewasted and when the moistened pad is in contact with the conductor, thecurrent from said conductor to said col lector will be unbroken. Thus,by using water' for both connections between the phone and theconductor, the current flows practically in a solid volume and is notadapted to be readily broken, thereby preventing the stuttering eifectwhich is usually prevalent in phones of this type. In my drawings andthe specification, I have shown and stated that the various parts of thedevice are secured to the tender of the locomotive and the cab thereof,but it will be readily understood that this was done particularly forconvenience and that the parts of the device may be easily and readilyapplied to any portion of the moving train whatsoever without afi'ectingthe results and the advantages of the invention. In the drawings I haveshown this device as applied to but one rail but it will be understood.that the same may be applied to both rails and of course under theseconditions a duplication of the matter shown will occur.

In practice, it will be seen that if the device is connected to thetender and cab of the locomotive, as I have shown in my drawings, a headgear may be provided for the engineer or operator of the locomotive,which head gear carries the receiver, so that 5 said operator maycontinually be in position to receive any message delivered, and in thisconnection, the customary portable stand of the desk type carrying thetransmitter may be provided. In this manner, the operator,

40 having the receiver to his car, will receive all messages at any timethe current collector is moved in position to engage the conductor, andall messages which he may deliver through the transmitter will be car- 5ried to the conductor and received byany of the other operators incommunication with said conduct-or, whether they be on moving trains orat stations on the circuit.

Of course,"it will be understood that it is not necessary to have theconductor extend the full extent of the line, as such a feature woulddoubtless be expensive to some railroads, but if desired, this conductormay be provided for a-considerable distance on both sides of a switch orthe like, and thus, engineers of the various trains may enter intocommunication with one another as well as the operator at the station,so as to prevent serious accidents at such points.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that I have provided a simple,inexpensive and efficient means for carrying out the numerous objects ofthe invention and while the elements described are believed to bewelladapted to perform the functions set forth,

it is obvious that various changes in form, proportion and in the minordetails of con struction may be resorted to without departing from thespirit or sacrificing any of the principles of the invention.

What I claim is 1. In a telephone or signaling system for railways, thecombination with a pair of rails and a current conductor extendingtherealong, of an object adapted to moye on said rails, line and groundwires carried by said object, one end of the ground wire being carriedto a point just above the surface of the ground; means to collect thecurrent from said conductor and transmit the same to said line wire, andadditional means to conduct a stream of water over the free end of theground wire.

2. In a system of the class described, the combination with a pair ofrails and a cur- 35 rent conductor extending therealong; of an objectadapted to move on said rails, a lever pivotally engaged with saidobject, an insulate'd sleeve carried on the free end of said lever, acurrent collector removably mounted on said sleeve, line and groundwires car ried by said object, said line wire having connection withsaid current collector, means to retain said lever in its raised andinoperative position, and additional means 5 manually operable from theobject to lower said lever and the collector into engagement with saidcurrent conductor.

3. In a system of the class described, the combination with rails and acurrent conductor extending therealong; of a car adapted to move on saidrails, a lever pivot ally carried on the bottom of said car, aninsulated sleeve secured to the free end of said lever, a currentcollector removably mounted on said sleeve and line and ground wirescarried by the car, said line wire having connection with said currentcollector, means to normally retain saidPlever in its raised position,additional means manually operable from the car to lower said lever andthe collector into engagement with said current conductor,- and meanscarried on said sleeve to prevent the collector from being disengagedfrom the conductor through any lateral movement of the lever.

4. In a. system of the class described, the combination with rails and acurrent conductor extending thcrealong; of a car movable on said rails,line and ground wires carried by said car, means to collect the currentfrom said conductor and transmit the same to said line wire, a hollowmember carried by said car in which said ground wire terminates, andmeans to supply water to said member to conduct the current from thelast referred to wire to the ground.

5. In a system of the class described, the combination with rails and acurrent conductor extending therealong; of a car mov-j, v 130 ableonsaid rails, une and ground wires carried by said car, means to collectthe current from said conductor and transmit the same to said line wire,a funnel member carried by said car into which said ground wire-extendsand terminates, and means to supply water to said funnel member to 1conduct the, current from the wire therewithinto the ground.

v a system of the class described, the combination with rails and acurrent conductor extending therealong; of a car mov-- able on; saidrails, line and ground Wires cerriedpby the car, one end of the groundw1re extending to a point just above the surface of the ground; means tocollect the current from said conductor and transmit the same to saidline wire, means to supply ,,,,wm 1-;-m said'current collecting means,and

means to direct a stream of water over the end of said ground wire.

In a system of the class described, the combination with a pair of railsand :1 cur rent conductor extending'therealong; of a tar movable on-saidrails, line and ground wires carried by the car, a pivoted lever carriedby said car, a current collector carsaid line wire, means tosupply-water to said current collector, meansto retain the ,means' tolower said lever and-the current collector into operative position.

8. Ina system of the class'described', me combination with rails and acurrent conductor extending therealong; of an object jmovable on saidrails, ground and linewires carried by the object, a lever having onelend thereof pivotally engaged with said jobject, af-eurrent collectorcarried by the :free end of said lever, a pad also carried by the lowerend of said lever and contacting with the efiective lower face of thecurrent jcollector, means to supply water to said. pad, !and means tolower said lever to correispondingly lower the pad into engagement ?withthe current conductor.

' In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my I signature in the presenceof two witnesses.

5 v DENNIS D. BIGGERS.

Witnesses I GEORGE POWELL,

L. S Kno'rr.

'ried by the lever having'oonnectlon with lever in raised position, andadditionalv

